Optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of the black hole Swift J1753.5–0127

Journal Article · Thu Sep 10 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/810/2/161· OSTI ID:22882647

Rahoui, Farid ^[1]; Tomsick, John A. ^[2]; Coriat, Mickael ^[3]; Corbel, Stéphane ^[4]; Fürst, Felix ^[5]; Gandhi, Poshak ^[6]; Kalemci, Emrah ^[7]; Migliari, Simone ^[8]; Stern, Daniel ^[9]

---

1. European Southern Observatory, K. Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei München (Germany)
2. Space Sciences Laboratory, 7 Gauss Way, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States)
3. IRAP, Université de Toulouse, UPS, 9 Avenue du colonel Roche, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4 (France)
4. Laboratoire AIM (CEA/IRFU—CNRS/INSU—Université Paris Diderot), CEA DSM/IRFU/SAp, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
5. California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
6. Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)
7. Sabanci University, Orhanli-Tuzla, Istanbul, 34956 (Turkey)
8. European Space Astronomy Centre, Apartado/P.O. Box 78, Villanueva de la Canada, E-28691 Madrid (Spain)
9. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)

We report on a multiwavelength observational campaign of the black hole (BH) X-ray binary Swift J1753.5–0127 that consists of an ESO/X-shooter spectrum supported by contemporaneous Swift/X-ray Telescope+Ultra-Violet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) and Australia Telescope Compact Array data. Interstellar medium absorption lines in the X-shooter spectrum allow us to determine E(B−V)=0.45±0.02 along the line of sight to the source. We also report detection of emission signatures of He ii λ4686, Hα, and, for the first time, H i λ10906 and Paβ. The double-peaked morphology of these four lines is typical of the chromosphere of a rotating accretion disk. Nonetheless, the paucity of disk features points toward a low level of irradiation in the system. This is confirmed through spectral energy distribution modeling, and we find that the UVOT+X-shooter continuum mostly stems from the thermal emission of a viscous disk. We speculate that the absence of reprocessing is due to the compactness of an illumination-induced envelope that fails to reflect enough incoming hard X-ray photons back to the outer regions. The disk also marginally contributes to the Compton-dominated X-ray emission and is strongly truncated, with an inner radius about 1000 times larger than the BH's gravitational radius. A near-infrared excess is present, and we associate it with synchrotron radiation from a compact jet. However, the measured X-ray flux is significantly higher than what can be explained by the optically thin synchrotron jet component. We discuss these findings in the framework of the radio-quiet versus X-ray-bright hypothesis, favoring the presence of a residual disk, predicted by evaporation models, that contributes to the X-ray emission without enhancing the radio flux.

• OSTI ID: 22882647
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 810; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
ACCRETION DISKS
BINARY STARS
BLACK HOLES
CHROMOSPHERE
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DETECTION
EMISSION
ENERGY SPECTRA
EVAPORATION MODEL
HARD X RADIATION
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
SYNCHROTRON RADIATION
TELESCOPES
VISIBLE SPECTRA